Olympian Beginnings: Chapter 6
Hecate "That was thrilling." Hades said as the shadows receded. "'Thrilling'? I feel as if I've been hit with a bucket of ice!" Hestia, protested. "Well, shadow travel is unpleasant for most people." I said, turning to look at the desolate plains ahead of us. "On that note- welcome to the Land of the Dead." Hestia frowned. "'Dead'?" "Death is when a mortal soul leaves it's body." I gestured to the gray cloaked figures wandering aimlessly through the cavern. The Underworld consisted of an expanse of endless darkness, occasionally brightened by the faint violet glow of the spirits of deceased mortals, and rutted through by the five Underworld Rivers, each beginning at a different cardinal direction (except for the Phlegethon, which started at the center of one of the Dark Realm's more volatile fields), and all flowing down into the entrance to Tartarus, creating something of an extremely dangerous waterfall. "Right then, come on. Since we're immortal, nothing here should be of a danger to us, as long as we don't attract any.. primordial attention." I looked at the two gods with a very serious expression. "But, whatever you do, do not go near the Rivers." "Why not?" Hades asked. "The Rivers are the most dangerous part of the entire place. Aside from housing the most powerful nymphs in existence, the water can burn you out of existence, or wipe away your memories, or trap you in eternal suffering, or trap you in eternal misery-" "We get it." Hestia said, cutting me off. I nodded and we began walking. After a few minutes, Hestia stopped. "What-" then I noticed what she was looking at. A few feet away was Phlegethon, the river of Fire. "It's beautiful." she muttered. "Still, you need to stay away from it. The Rivers are dangerous. " "What does it do?" Hades asked. "Well.. It depends. if you drink it, it can actually have healing properties. But on physical contact it causes overwhelming pain. Not nearly as bad as some of the others, but still." He looked downstream to the waterfall of eternal suffering. "I wonder what the water's like at the bottom." "Actually, the rivers continue to flow completely separate in the Pit." I answered. I didn't need to explain to them about Tartarus- everyone knew about the prison not even immortals could escape from. "How do you know?" Hestia asked, looking up from the fire water. "You haven't.... been there, have you?" I rolled my eyes. "Of course not. Titans can't escape the Pit. But," I said, grinning mischievously, "I know people that can. Eventually, at least." "Who?" Hades asked. I turned and walked over to a group of the chittering shades. I pulled one of them, a woman, away from the group and tilted her chin up so that I was looking into her blank eyes, and recited, Sárka, Broúntzos, Psychi̱, Syndyázo̱ Osto, Metallo̱n, Pnev̱ma, Anavió̱se! The ghost's eyes flared bright red, followed by the rest of her form, causing us to look away. When we looked back, where the spirit had stood a moment before was a girl's form, with glowing red eyes, bronze talons, and flames for hair. She still wore the same gray cloak as the spirits of the dead, but I knew that underneath she had one leg made of bronze and one donkey's hoof. The newly formed daimone blinked a few times, then focused it's gaze on me and immediately knelt. "Lady Hecate." "How did you do that?" Hestia asked. I smiled proudly. "I combined the spells for summoning metal and controlling an animal and applied them both to the animus. I call them Empousai. They have the same basic abilities of most Underworld demons, and they only answer to me." "And they can go into Tartarus and back?" Hades asked. "Well, they go to the Pit if they're destroyed, but they reform eventually. So naturally I-" "Here? You aren't serious!" "I told you I'm sure of it! I can sense their presence!" We all froze. The voices were far off, but getting closer. And I recognized them. "Who is that?" Hestia asked quietly. I gulped. "My mother." Next Chapter Category:Olympian Beginnings Category:Nickystellar Category:Fan Fiction